Nigerian football was thrown into mourning on Monday following news that Super Eagles defender, Olubayo Adefemi, had died in an automobile accident in Greece.
Greek police said that the defender, who plays for Greek top division outfit Skoda Xanthi, lost control of his car on the Egnatia motorway while driving from Xanthi to Salonika in the Kavala region of Northern Greece. No one else was hurt in the crash.
He was travelling to the airport to catch a flight to Nigeria, where he was due to finalise plans for his wedding.
A statement from the Greek football federation read: "The Super League and the entire Greek football family would like to express its deepest condolences and sympathy to the family of Olubayo Adefemi, who died tragically in a car accident." The former Rapid Bucharest of Romania player, who had also played in the Austrian and Israeli top flight divisions, joined Skoda last year after leaving French club Boulogne.
Adefemi made 24 appearances for Skoda, scoring two goals. He had been granted a week-long leave by his club and was expected in Nigeria last night to finalise plans for his wedding. This much was confirmed to NEXT by the deceased's older brother, Abiodun Adefemi, who also disclosed that plans were underway to airlift his brother's remains to Nigeria.
"He was on his way back to Nigeria," said the older Adefemi. "He spoke to our sister on Sunday asking her to pick him up at the airport later today (Monday)." He added: "We were contacted by officials of his club in respect of his death and there were discussions regarding how to get his body to Nigeria." The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), as at the time of filing in this report, was yet to get in touch with Adefemi's family but NEXT gathered from the acting secretary general of the NFF, Musa Amadu, that the Nigerian FA would keep in touch with the Adefemi family, as well as Skoda, regarding funeral rites for the late international.
Facebook addict
Fans of the late footballer were not left out as they poured their hearts out on his Facebook page, where hundreds of messages have been posted on his wall. One from Germany-based Super Falcons midfielder, Cynthia Uwak, appealed, albeit in vain: "Femi, wake up, you can't die." Even his national team buddies, past and present, were not left out as they expressed shock at the death of the defender, an easygoing fellow, as testified to by his latest Facebook profile picture where he and a Greek fan in the shirt of the Nigerian national team were holding on to a pair of draws... with their teeth.
"That's Femi for you. He is always looking for a way to make you laugh," said former junior international, Ambrose Vanzekin, who was Adefemi's teammate at both the 2005 U-20 World Cup and Beijing 2008 Olympics. He added: "He's always on Facebook chatting with people and making new friends. That's why he had so many fans." Kola Ige, who was also at the 2005 and 2008 tournaments said, "He was a very funny guy. He always had a way of lifting our spirits anytime morale was low. He was very friendly and we'll all miss him." Osaze Odemwingie, who was also at the Beijing Olympics, however, found it hard to accept the news of Adefemi's death as he posted the following on his Twitter page: "Got a bb msg (blackberry message) that Olubayo died in a car accident. The person is his friend so can't joke like that. Still hope it's not true."
Adefemi came into the limelight in 2005 when he featured in the Flying Eagles side that won the 2005 African Youth Championships in Benin Republic. That win marked Nigeria's first AYC victory in 16 years.
Adefemi later went on to feature, also in 2005, at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Holland where the Samson Siasia-tutored side finished a respectable second, before going on to make an appearance at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, where the Nigerian team won silver. He made his Super Eagles debut on May 29, 2009 in an international friendly against Ireland. Even though he got called up regularly, he only earned two more caps for the national team.
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